


Light

by AU_Queen



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Cardin and Velv are friends, Cotton Candy, Cuddling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Library, M/M, Memories, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, background Velvet/Coco, but small angst, did I mention dumb fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 12:06:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12581528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AU_Queen/pseuds/AU_Queen
Summary: He was right there, right in front of him. A halo of blonde hair stuck out from his head and he was glowing like an angel.





	Light

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the San Holo song, 'Light'

He was right there, right in front of him. A halo of blonde hair stuck out from his head and he was glowing like an angel. A smile passed unbidden across his features for a second. Cardin let his hand reach out, make a pass through Jaune's soft hair. Memories swirled through his head; memories of how they got here to this moment, memories that made him sad, ones that made him smile.

Cardin still couldn't believe that Jaune was somehow his. After all his years of bullying, how this one person, this beacon of light, would somehow see something in him worth saving.

If he had to wager a guess of when it started happening, he might have to say it was that night on the roof. The night it all started, lies, blackmail, and an inner hunger to keep those he deemed weaker under him fueling his every action. After that, all the time around the other boy somehow... started to change him. Mostly in little ways. Whenever Cardin was around Jaune he could almost see this light coming from him. There was no explanation for it, there was just something about the other boy that shone so brightly. Sometimes it almost hurt to simply look at him. At times he was sure just being in Jaune's presence would make him blind. That's probably about when he realized he was falling for the other boy. And it wasn't a gentle fall. No, it was more like when Ozpin had launched them off the cliff, only he didn't have his mace or anything else to slow his descent. He could only continue to fall and watch as the ground got closer, waiting for an impact that surely would've killed him.

That impact came that day in the Forever Fall forest. When Jaune had thrown the jar of syrup at him, when the Ursa had brought him down and left him defenseless, when he was so sure of his own death only to have that beacon of light stop the fatal blow. That day Cardin could swear Jaune's glow was brighter as he watched him take down the Ursa. Something in him practically floated at the thought of Jaune protecting him, and he could feel his heart expand right in his chest cavity. But then Jaune had helped him up and told him, commanded him, to leave his team and friends alone. In that moment the impact came. His previously expanding heart burst like a water balloon, and he was sure he could feel something draining from his chest and out of his body through his fingertips.

It was that day that made Cardin want to change. Truly change, if only that meant he had a chance of being able to see Jaune's light again. To be able to bask in it and breathe it in.

Everything started with Velvet. After they returned from the forest, he went to track her down. It took him four days to find her, and a lot of struggling and stuttering to apologize for what he had done. Of course she didn't forgive him at first, he wouldn't expect her to. Not after all he had done to her. But with time, and some barely contained annoyance, he did eventually gain her forgiveness. And through that, he actually learned to have patience for once which definitely helped him deal with his team and the other people around him. Unexpectedly though, he also gained a friend he never thought he would have. Velvet ended up being pretty cool, and after they finally got past the bullying, they became pretty inseparable friends.

So it was definitely a bit of a shock to some of the others in the lunchroom, namely teams RWBY and JNPR, when he had sat down for lunch with Velvet and her team. He could feel them watching for a few minutes before Coco had finally just glared at them, causing them to look away. Still he could hear their surprised whispers. He's glad Velvet was there that day, because if it wasn't for her calming him down he may have very well just slid into the floor. Or walked over there and punched one of them, if only to shut them up. But Velvet was there for him, telling him to ignore them with a warm hand on his shoulder.

She was definitely a friend he was glad to have made. Even if her girlfriend, Coco, had her moments of being absolutely terrifying. Like when she had cornered him in the hallway with Yatsuhashi looming behind her, threatening him if he ever did anything bad to Velvet. Honestly, he couldn't blame them. He had been a terrible person, and if he had a friend that befriended their ex-bully, he could've seen himself doing the same thing.

But he was able to stop bullying with Velvet's help. Well, mostly. At the point they were able to get it to, it wasn't completely bullying anymore. It was actually just his habit of being unconsciously rude and brutally honest. That, coupled with his still fairly short fuse and the fact that before Velvet, he never really had too many true interactions with other people so social cues wasn't always something he really picked up on. Ever.

It wasn't too long after they became friends that Velvet had started to notice the lingering stares Cardin almost unconsciously sent toward the JNPR team. Or to be more accurate, toward Jaune. She wasn't dumb and she quickly realized he liked him. So she basically made it her personal mission to try and get the two together. Cardin told her it wasn't possible.  Velvet, with help from the rest of team CFVY, proved him wrong.

Somehow they had found a way to get Jaune alone in the library and sent Cardin in with a book to sit with him at one of the tables in the back. Cardin was sure Jaune would be able to hear of beat of his pounding heart.

Somehow Jaune didn't move when Cardin sat down. He also didn't speak to him either, just kept reading his comic book, but that was fine with Cardin. He was sitting diagonally from him, so for the first time in what felt like forever he let himself just look at Jaune from over the pages of his book. The light was still there, not as bright as that day at Forever Fall, but there. His halo of blonde hair seemed to be more unkempt than he remembered, but his eyes were lighter. Even with the dark circles hiding under the lashes. Although, the dark circles may have been what made the blue of his eyes less dark, but they also gave them a tired look. A worry and question of how much sleep Jaune was getting persisted at the back of his mind, but he ignored it, choosing instead to finally look down at his book and start actually reading.

They met at the library again a few days after that. Cardin would have asked Velvet how they were able to make sure Jaune was alone, but he decided it wouldn't really be worth it to question it.

Jaune was at the same table as before, at the same seat, and Cardin slipped quietly into the seat he had occupied the first time. Like last time, Jaune didn't move. Though he did look up from his comic for a second before continuing to read. Instead of staring, Cardin decided to follow suit and simply read.

This happened twice more, Jaune not moving when Cardin sat with him at the table in the back, simply looking up from his comic for a few seconds before continuing to read. Almost like he was making sure it was Cardin who had sat down. It was the fourth time Cardin had sat down with Jaune, and once he got settled in his seat, he let himself just look at Jaune for a moment like he had done the first day.

The light was still there. It was always there, along with a halo of blonde sticking up at weird angles. This time Cardin could tell the circles resting beneath Jaune's lower lashes had somehow gotten darker. They almost looked purple, depending on how he looked at them.

"Dust, Arc, how much sleep have you been getting?" the words were out of Cardin's mouth before he could stop them. Cardin bit his bottom lip hard, a faint taste of metal invading his mouth as he looked down at the table.

"Not enough," the answer came, just a whisper but the shock of getting an answer at all made it sound like a clap of thunder.

"No shit," Cardin couldn't help himself from mumbling the words at the table. When he looked back up, he could see Jaune was still reading his comic, but now a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Cardin was sure he could feel his heart soar at the sight.

Eventually they ended up meeting at the library twice a week. It became a habit of theirs to sit at that table, diagonal from one another, Jaune reading his comics and Cardin reading his novel. Words would be exchanged sparingly between the two, and after a while Cardin could swear he sometimes felt Jaune's eyes on him. He wasn't entirely sure what it meant. His brain helpfully supplied that Jaune was making sure Cardin was still just sitting there and not trying to hurt him, he told it to shut up.

Every so often Cardin would let himself look up and just watch Jaune. Watch the halo of blonde on the top of his head, the movement of blue eyes reading, a light that felt so tangible at times he thought he could just breathe it in and forget everything else in that moment. Sometimes he thinks he did. The dark circles were still there, still as dark as the last time and the week before that. Something in him was concerned for Jaune's sleep schedule, but he knew he couldn't do anything about it so he pushed it away.

At times, Cardin would catch Jaune looking at him. Their eyes would meet for a moment before they both quickly shifted to look back at the books that sat in front of them.

Cardin isn't sure when it changed, but eventually they started to talk more to each other. They were quiet, of course, since they only ever met in the library. Sometimes Cardin could even get Jaune to chuckle, his shoulders moving up and down with his silent laughter.

After a time the boys shifted, moving to sit next to each other instead of diagonally. They didn't always read anymore, sometimes helping each other study. Jaune got Cardin into a Remnant board game and Cardin in turn taught Jaune chess. It was easy to see why Ozpin made Jaune a leader with the way he was able to strategize in both games.

The changes continued slowly, and eventually they came to a point where they were sitting almost hip to hip. Cardin wasn't sure when this happened, but he immediately decided against questioning it. Sometimes their hands would brush when they studied, or Jaune would move his hand just that much closer to Cardin's when explaining a math problem. At one point, Jaune even started to lean his shoulder against Cardin's while he was reading. Cardin didn't know whether Jaune had noticed this or not.

Just as the closeness almost felt like it was too much for him, Jaune reached his hand down and tentatively took Cardin's in his own. It was while they were reading and Cardin had tensed in surprise, but he quickly relaxed. Neither of them said anything about it and neither of them moved away. After that, they would often hold hands under that table in the back of the library, both of them calmly reading and never saying a word about it. The only confirmation either of them gave the other that they acknowledged it was a gentle squeeze.

It was Velvet who first mentioned it to him. Of course it was Velvet, who else would it be? She had seen them in the library and asked him about it. Asked him if Jaune liked him. He couldn't really give her an answer, not when he didn't really know either.

"You've been practically sitting on each other and holding hands and you  _ haven’t asked _ ?" Velvet sounded incredulous and he really couldn't blame her.

"I didn't want to ruin it," Cardin said with a shrug, eyes trained on the floor.

"Car," Velvet had placed her hand under his chin, gently moving his head so she could look into his eyes, "the only way you could ruin this is if you went back to bullying. And I've seen how you've changed this past year, so I doubt that would happen. Right?"

He blinked and nodded immediately. She smiled at that and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"Get your man," she whispered the words in his ear before pushing him away, into the direction she had just seen Jaune walking.

For a second Cardin just stood there. He gulped and looked back at Velvet, only for her to wave him off. With a steadying breath, he walked around the corner and into the library.

Jaune was at their table and Cardin just stood there looking at him for a minute, causing Jaune to look up at him with a smile.

"Are you going to sit down or are you just going to stand there?" Jaune asked the question with a joking tone and Cardin hesitantly took his seat beside him. "Are you okay?" Jaune turned in his seat to look at Cardin, "You look almost like you're gonna be sick." He frowned at Cardin, worry etched into his eyes.

"I'm fine, I just," Cardin looked away, took another breath. At this moment it almost felt like this would be his only chance, and he didn't want to mess it up, "I just reallylikeyouandthinkyoumightpossiblylikemetoo?" The words came out in a rush and it surprised Cardin how nervous he sounded. Although, he assumed it accurately showed how his insides felt. He could swear he could feel his heart trying to escape his chest by any means necessary.

"Sorry?" Jaune's eyebrows scrunched in confusion and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It reminded Cardin of the smile Jaune had on the first day he had spoken to him in the library.

Cardin swallowed and tried again, speaking slower with less words, "Do you like me?"

Jaune laughed and Cardin could feel his heart start to make its descent into his stomach, could almost feel pieces already cracking off. But then Jaune spoke.

"I thought it was obvious," Jaune said between his silent giggles.

"What?" the word was almost only mouth movement, no noise seeming to want to leave Cardin.

"We hold hands almost everyday. I practically sit on you and lean against you constantly," Jaune said with a smile, "Yes, I like you. And I hope you like me too?"

The answer threw Cardin off and for a moment his vocal chords didn't seem to work at all, his mouth opening and closing like a fish trying to breath air. Finally a single word came, stuttered out quietly, "Y-yes."

And Jaune had simply laughed before pecking him on the cheek and moving back to see Cardin's face and ears burn a shade of red that probably matched Ruby's cape.

It wasn't the very next day, but eventually Cardin walked over to sit with his new boyfriend during lunch. With only slight hesitation, Cardin had sat down in the seat next to Jaune that had been conveniently kept empty for the past week. The others at the table looked surprised when they saw Cardin sit down and move his chair a few inches closer to Jaune's. With a smile Cardin knew he would never get sick of, Jaune had reached down to intertwine his fingers with Cardin's. Everyone else at the table looked to each other in confusion as they began to eat one handed, never letting go of the other during the whole lunch period.

After five identical lunches, one of them finally spoke up.

"So, are you dating him or something?" it was Nora, Cardin knew from hearing Jaune talk about them. A soft gleam reached his eyes as he thought of how animatedly Jaune would talk when he spoke about his friends. Or, really anything he was passionate about. Cardin was sure he could listen to him talk for hours, if only to hear the sound of his voice, see the joyful expressions on his face, and watch the way he'd energetically move his hands and arms.

"Yep," Jaune answered without missing a beat, complete confidence causing Cardin to look at him curiously from the corner of his eye. He still wasn't used to being his boyfriend.

Boyfriend. Somehow, he was this beautiful, magnificent, shining boy's boyfriend and it made his heart want to burst from the joy of it.

"Really?" the white haired girl, Weiss, asked with a layer of disbelief.

"Yeah," Jaune nodded and Cardin could see the ghost of a smile on his face, see the way he seemed to glow slightly brighter.

"Cool," Ruby and Yang said in unison and Cardin blinked at them in confusion. That wasn't a reaction he expected. Had he heard them correctly?

"What?" he spoke out loud, his brain almost halting at their smiles.

"We trust Jaune to make his own decisions," Pyrrha spoke evenly.

"But if you ever hurt him again, we  _ will  _ break your legs," Nora piped up with a smile that kinda terrified Cardin.

"I'm not planning on it," Cardin said after a breath, "Never again." He felt Jaune lightly squeeze his hand at that and approving looks came from almost everyone at the table. Some of them still didn't quite trust him, like Weiss and Blake. And he was pretty sure Ren was with them as well. But he couldn't blame them, not after what he had done. Still, a part of him didn't really feel like it was necessary to prove to them that he had changed. He knew he had changed, and he never wanted to go back. Velvet helped him get there with the help of her team. Jaune knew he had changed. The other's opinion of him didn't fully matter to him. He still kinda wanted them to like him, but it didn't have to happen immediately or ever.

Their opinions did change eventually, though. Soon both team JNPR and RWBY approved of him, and despite his not caring, he truly did appreciate it. He was glad that the others began to like him.

 

It's been about four years since then. They had graduated from Beacon just last year. Somehow, they had stayed together all that time. After leaving Beacon they moved in together.

They still kept up with their friends, and Velvet and Coco would come over sometimes for coffee and tea. Ruby and her team would come over for game nights along with the rest of team JNPR. The rest of team CRDL would drag Cardin out of the apartment to hang out, often pulling Jaune right along with him.

He loved living with Jaune. They had a small apartment that felt like home the day they moved in. Jaune had convinced him to get a cat and Jaune had immediately named her Mogar after his favourite character from his comics. Cooking duty was shared between the two, although since Jaune was better at it Cardin was just there to help where he could. Both of them did the cleaning as well. Somehow, they just worked.

Cardin cherished getting up every morning, the light from the window coming in to rest on Jaune, colouring his hair with tints of oranges and pinks as the sun rose. Jaune would blink open his eyes, the blue like the twilight sky in the dim light of their room. The dark circles under his eyes were no longer present, and Cardin would swear he could go blind with the way Jaune practically shone everyday.

He smiled as he moved a piece of blonde hair from Jaune's face. Jaune smiled warmly, if not groggily, at him and he couldn't stop himself from leaning down to kiss that smile.

"Good morning," Jaune spoke, voice deeper from disuse but smile still evident, as Cardin pulled away.

"Morning, angel" Cardin smiled back at him.

Jaune was Cardin's beacon of light. A glowing angel he hoped he'd never have to live without.


End file.
